Confit is the ultimate comfort food, and trendy or not, it is dazzling stuff.

That being said, I often write into recipes techniques I learned in the restaurant kitchen. There are ways of organizing your prep and so on that are immensely useful. Those are woven into all the recipes I do.

Generally a chef's book is like a calling card or a portfolio to display their personal work.

This book is pointing the way into it for people that see it as daunting or a mystery. Some people just do it, but others need help with the mindset, permission almost to listen to themselves. Understanding how things work is the key.

There are so many things that come into writing a recipe, and it's really important if you're writing for home cooks to be cooking like you are at home.

A lot of people love the idea of improvising but are terrified of it, so I tried to make a book that was not a chef's book about improvising but a real home cook's book with a real home cook's pantry, supermarket ingredients, that sort of thing.